Yes and I wonder who gets the benefit - it wont be the government who put in the $15 mil and it wont be the people of NZ.
I read the first part of this thread and remembered when gold took a sudden increase back in the early 1980s. The media burbled on about the ‘new gold rush’ and how people would be going bush to pillage the landscape - it never happened. The media also phoned us and wanted to do an article about us but we didnt have no stories to tell.
Hi Graeme, I see it is a “loan” from the government, but if the company make nothing from it how do they pay the “loan” back? In the 2nd link I put up I see Oceanagold are involved. I was up there at the mine area about 10 years ago & Oceana were drilling back then.
Maybe our Government should follow PNG’s move. 
and keep the wealth of OUR gold in our country for New Zealand to benefit from.
Papua New Guinea Government moves to take over Porgera lease - Business Advantage PNG.
JW 
I have always thought that the Government should ensure that the gold never goes off shore and remains here as it belongs to us, the people of NZ. l strongly suspect that because we owe so much debt the offshore bankers dictate what the government does and this was more or less verified by David Clarke’s answer when l said that foreign big business runs this country.
I also think that NZ is oil rich as well but Muldoon’s government wanted a 50/50 agreement but the offshore companies would not accept that.
As for the thread header l think it is merely bullshit melodramatic journalism to gain attention. A bit like seeing a ripple on the water at the beach and calling it a deadly tsunami!